Meet the cooks and foods of Southeast Asia - recipes

Sunset, April, 1984

More than spicy exotic flavors give Southeast Asian foods their appeal. Lightness, crisp fresh vegetables, provocative seasonings, and the interplay of textures all combine to win Western fans.

Our own enthusiasm, first sparked by visits to Thailand, the Philippines, Cambodia, Burma, Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos, and Malaysia, has been reinforced by eating in Southeast Asian restaurants recently opened by the large influx of immigrants in this country.

We've also visited with transplanted Southeast Asians from Seattle to San Diego, who prepared favorite dishes to share. They showed us how and where to shop, how to adapt our ingredients when theirs aren't available. The result: a series of intriguing sampler menus that introduce you to the foods of Southeast Asia, with recipes made feasible for Western cooks and kitchens.

Many of the ingredients are already familiar. Some we know from Mexican and Chinese cooking, though they have a different dimension when handled in the Southeast Asian way.

Because Southeast Asians are from the same general geographic area, they share many of the same basic foods and seasonings. These may be called by different names or used in different ways, but they're essentially interchangeable from one country to another. (See page 128 for more details on basic ingredients.)

Some Asian markets here can supply imported ingredients. But readily available alternatives can also produce delicious results and give you a satisfying impression of the real thing.

Don't be put off if our recipes look complex. If they seem long, it's because we're careful to suggest workable substitutions wherever possible. Spices are often used generously.

Cooking techniques are ones you already know: stir-frying, grilling, steaming, simmering, sauteeing, and frying. Asians use woks, but a frying pan will do. A heavy mortar and pestle are standard equipment in most Asian kitchens: pounding breaks fibers to release and blend flavors. A food processor can substitute, though it tends to cut instead of crush.

Traditionally, all the courses are set out at once. You take some of each food on your plate, playing flavors against each other. The meal uses rice as a neutral background.

Fresh pineapples, mangoes, papayas, bananas, and less common fruits are often served for dessert. You might want to try imported canned or frozen fruits from the region such as longans, rambutans--sweet, juicy, pearly-white spheres similar to lichees--and yellow jackfruit.

Beer or iced tea go well as a beverage.

To start your food tour of the Pacific, you might begin with Thai appetizers for a first course or small party. For an outing, pack the Filipino picnic. When you need a light supper, try the tart Cambodian soup. On a mild evening, serve a Vietnamese or Laotian supper on the patio. For a dinner party, choose the burmese noodle buffet, Indonesian rice table, or Malaysian curry.

Menu 1: Thai appetizers with sauces

Stylish and bold, Thai cuisine teases the palate with intriguing textures, temperatures, and flavors. The highly seasoned fish patties are served with a cool, tart-sweet cucumber sauce. Chicken wings traditionally are boned and stuffed with a pork filling, but we skip this step because the boning takes practice. We present the fried wings, unstuffed, with sweet-sour garlic sauce.

Patties are made with fresh fish paste that can be purchased from Oriental fish markets. If you can't get it, grind fish fillets and season with spicy red curry paste from an Asian store (or make your own). Leftover paste can be used to season stir-fry dishes, curries, and meat marinades. Thai Fish Patties with Cucumber Sauce (Tord man)

1 pound fresh fish paste (or 1 lb. lean mild fish fillets such as rockfish or bass)

1-1/2 tablespoons purchased or homemade red curry paste (recipe follows)

1 or 2 eggs

2 teaspoons sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1/2 cup frozen petite peas, thawed

Salad oil

Salt

Cucumber sauce (recipe follows)

Mix the fish paste (if using fish fillets, cut into chunks and whirl to a paste in a food processor or force through the fine blade of a food chopper until finely ground) with the curry paste, egg (use 2 eggs if you make your own fish paste), sugar, and cornstarch until well blended. Stir in peas.

In a deep 10- to 12-inch frying pan or 3- to 4-quart pan, heat about 1-1/2 inches salad oil to 350[deg.] on a thermometer. Drop 5 to 8 rounded teaspoonfuls of the fish mixture into the oil; cook, turning, until fish is golden on all sides and opaque in thickest part when cut, about 1 minute. Lift out with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Place in 200[deg.] oven to keep warm while frying remaining fish.

Sprinkle with salt to taste. Serve with cucumber sauce. (If made ahead, cool, cover, and chill. To reheat, bake in a single layer in a 350[deg.] oven until hot, about 8 minutes.) Makes 36, enough for 6 to 8 servings.--Chutarat Kocourek, Cupertino, Calif.

Red curry paste. In a food processor or blender, combine 6 tablespoons chopped fresh or dry lemon grass or 1 tablespoon dry ground lemon grass (or 1 tablespoon grated lemon peel) and 12 slices dry galangal, crush (or 1 tablespoon ground laos or 1/4 cup minced fresh ginger); whirl until finely ground. Add 6 tablespoons each cayenne and minced shallot, 2 tablespoons ground coriander, 1-1/2 teaspoons shrimp paste (or anchovy paste), 12 cloves garlic (coarsely chopped), and 1/4 cup salad oil; whirl until smooth. Use, or cover and chill up to 1 month. Makes 3/4 cup.